(Ecofin Agency) - In its consultation paper on Zimbabwe's national broadband plan, unveiled last week, the Zimbabwe Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) expressed its ambition to connect all districts in the country to the Internet. For this project, the telecom regulator needs a total of $123 million.

In the national broadband plan, Potraz explains that it wants to provide 1 Mbps connectivity to all districts in Zimbabwe over the next 10 years. To this end, the telecom regulator plans to install several additional kilometers of optical fiber across the territory, in addition to deploying complementary backhaul transmission systems to power the access nodes and improve network reliability. A more stable power source is also envisaged to keep the network in operation.

The development of national connectivity will begin in 2021. On Thursday 26 November, during the presentation of the 2021 national budget to Parliament, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said part of the $89 million allocated for the telecom and ICT sector would go to the deployment of broadband telecom infrastructure.